Ashley Judd target of GOP preemptive strike

But the GOP opposition research machine is already in full froth over what it views as perhaps the juiciest 2014 target: Ashley Judd, who is exploring a challenge to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

Text Size

-

+

reset

Crossroads ad mocks ‘radical’ actress

Ashley Judd on becoming an activist

Republicans are homing in with glee on the actress and activist, picking apart her views and statements and compiling a thick compendium of speeches, writings and tweets. What they found: Judd may not have a legislative record, but she has left quite a paper trail.

This early opposition research effort seems as much about scaring Democrats nationally about a Judd candidacy as informing Kentuckians before Judd even decides to make the race.

“Ms. Judd has a bit of a habit of making bizarre comments and observations that will put Democratic officials and candidates across the country in uncomfortable positions,” said Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. “As for Kentucky, well let’s just say that Ms. Judd’s comments are outlandish for Hollywood, never mind Covington.”

The latest of Judd’s unorthodox views to rise to the surface courtesy of the GOP is a 2006 statement about why she doesn’t have children — which Republicans say will not sit well in Kentucky. “It’s unconscionable to breed, with the number of children who are starving to death in impoverished countries,” Judd said. Rep. John Yarmuth (D-Ky.), who has been advising Judd, said that the actress was speaking for herself, and added that people in Kentucky understand the word “breeding.”

In a disjointed talk at George Washington University Friday, Judd, 44, may have given her opponents more fodder by referencing U2 rocker Bono, her dog being on a hunger strike and her extravagant travels. “We winter in Scotland. We’re smart like that,” she told students.

“She’s well aware of what might get thrown at her,”said Yarmuth, who believes Judd is going to enter the campaign and can withstand the heat.

“She is going to get so much free publicity, and she will have plenty of opportunity to define who she is on her own terms. And it might be a bit risky for Mitch to go after her in a nasty way — she’s very likable.”

But free publicity can cut both ways, and there’s some evidence the GOP effort is hitting its target in portraying her as an Hollywood elitist. In addition to her liberal positions on social issues, Judd’s anti-coal stance in a coal-mining state has gotten wide attention. Kentucky Public Radio recently published a survey of 14 Democratic state legislators, many of whom were skeptical that Judd was the right choice to beat McConnell.

“I mean, she’s got some issues that would hurt her up in Eastern Kentucky,” Democratic state Rep. Walter Blevins told the radio station. House Speaker Greg Stumbo was blunt: “Given her position on mining, it would probably be a race that Democrats like myself would have trouble supporting her.”

Noted a McConnell campaign adviser, who asked not to be named: “We truly believe that if she were to run, her candidacy would have the capacity to be the liberal Democrat version of Todd Akin for the rest of the Democratic candidates running in ’14.”